Run Devil Run
by Tsume Yuki
Summary: Sasuke said he had the Jutsu to solve all their problems. And Naruto believed him, until they landed in the golden days of Team 7. "That's not a problem solver Sasuke, this is a redo!" time-travel FemNaru female Naruto eventual SasuxNaru
1. Prologue

**Run Devil Run**

**Prologue**

* * *

Naruto's back hit the earth hard, which was followed by the air escaping her lungs in a harsh 'ompth'. Biting back the cry of pain, she forced herself to roll over, wary of the sudden silence. There should be no silence on a battle-field, even a ninja battle-field.  
Forcing herself to stand on shaking legs, she took a quick look around the surrounding area, another harsh breath leaving her lips as her brow crinkled in confusion. This was the location, but no army, no scars in the landscape were present. Sluggishly, she turned to the only other person nearby. Laid off to a side in the worn earth, Sasuke Uchiha was currently face down and very much unconscious.  
Scowling and prodding at the sleeping fur-ball within her, Naruto twisted her back this way at that, anxiously awaiting an answer from her constant companion.

'_**What do you want brat?**_'

"An explanation would be good to be honest Kurama."  
The fox snorted, clearly none too impressed. Ignoring the fur-ball until he decided to give her an answer, Naruto threw out several shadow clones, weary of attacks. They were at war, even if everyone seemed to have suddenly disappeared. Kneeling down beside Sasuke, Naruto pressed two fingers to his neck, feeling the drumming pulse that rested there.

"We'll, we're both alive," she grumbled, snatching up the raven haired teen's arm and slinging it over her shoulder. The face below dark head of hair let out a low moan of pain and Naruto rolled her eyes, clinging tighter to the limb and forcibly dragging the Uchiha after her as she walked.

.

After a good ten minutes of walking along, Naruto finally found herself on the outskirts of a forest that definitely hadn't been there before, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Crouching low and shuffling up to the nearest tree, Naruto deposited her injured comrade -good god it was weird to refer to Sasuke as that again- against the bark. With hands that hadn't known gentleness since before the war, she took hold of his face, carefully pressing her thumb and fingers into her cheeks and forcing his lips forwards. He was without a doubt down for the count, there was no way that she could have possibly been allowed to embarrass him in such a way otherwise.

"Fur-ball, some chakra from the teme please?"  
The familiar feeling of beings rushed out of control, of being in her body but not, remain and Naruto watched as the wounds on Sasuke's face sizzled to a close, all thanks to Kurama's enchanted healing.  
Slowly, Sasuke's head began to tilt to a side before he sat up, rubbing wearily at his eyes before a scowl crossed his face.

"You there teme?"

"Naruto. I'm going to guess it worked then?" Naruto frowned, mind scrambling in a desperate attempt to figure out just what the boy was talking about.

.

"_Naruto, I've got a jutsu that can fix this, but I need some more chakra. Do you trust me?"  
She could remember the panic of the war, how they were losing, losing oh so badly even with the four Hokage's help, the blind state of panic that she'd tried to push down. And without too much thought on the subject, she'd agreed. _

.

"What did you do Sasuke?"  
This wasn't a time for the usual name calling. Sasuke had done something, which was why there was suddenly no war around them, and she had a dreadful feeling in her stomach this wasn't a transportation jutsu.

"It's called Tenpomōshon... It's the last forbidden jutsu of the Uchiha, because it costs you both eyes," he gestured to his very much still closed eyes and Naruto's stomach dropped out from under her.  
Oh god, whatever the teme had done had blinded him. Why the hell would a Uchiha, who prized their eyes oh so much, dare throw away his eye-sight for one jutsu?

"It also costs a lot of chakra."

'_**Like half of a tailed-beast chakra,**_' Kurama grumbled from inside her mind.

"Yeah, but what does it do Sasuke? What has that jutsu done?"

"We've travelled back in time."  
The world slowed for Naruto, and she stared back at the blank face of her friend, her best friend who was now blind, and who was now smiling up at her like the world was perfectly okay now. And being Naruto, she screamed the first thing that came to mind.

"That's not a problem solver Sasuke, that's a redo!"

* * *

**So, due to Sasuke deciding that he wants to help Naruto out, I've given up on 'The Golden Ages', and present this in it's place. Not much more to say other than please don't hate me for giving up on previously mentioned story and I hope you like this one. And yes, Naruto and Sasuke will take on completely different names.**

**oh, and Tenpomōshon means Tempo motion in Japanese**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Tsume Yuki**

**xxx**


	2. Genesis

**Run Devil Run**

**Chapter 1  
Genesis  
**

* * *

Crumpling back against the tree, Naruto ran two furious hands through her hair, trying not to gasp for breath as panic over-took her. Kurama seemed to have left her to it if his silence was anything to go by. Around her, the soft noise of the forest wildlife flooded her mind; the fearless hare no more than twenty-feet to her left with it's grey ears pulled flat back against it's skull, the family of chipmunks that were nesting high on the upper-most branch of the tree six yards to her left. The shallow, soft rasps of Sasuke's breath at it escaped his nose, the low grumble of his stomach that had seen no food before battle. From the awkward tense in his posture and the way his chakra was flicking about in all forms of different signals, he was understandably tired, and probably feeling helplessly lost now that he'd given up his eyes.

Ever the optimist, Naruto pushed past her own exhaustion, forcibly swallowing around her dry tongue before taking the short four steps towards Sasuke. Carefully, she dropped to her knees beside him, not enough to startle but quick enough to show she wasn't hesitant. She wasn't calculating these moves, but she did notice them after they were completed. Struggling, the blonde grasped for the few memories she had of watching Sakura work, sorting through them. The poison with Kankurō was no good, she couldn't do any of those fancy tricks, but she did know some basic first aid. Cupping at the back of Sasuke's skull and checking for any signs of a concussion, Naruto slowly began to go through the motions, struggling to remember what came after the other. If he could look, Sasuke would probably be smirking at the awkward expression on her face, no wait, he was still smirking regardless.

"You could just ask me if I'm hurt dobe."

"Hush blind boy, I'm in charge now."  
He snorted but said nothing, still wearing that stupidly smug smirk on his face as she worked. Finally determining there was no internal bleeding, and that his ribs were just bruised, Naruto stood up, offering her hand to help pull the boy up. And then she slapped her hand to her face, remembering fully well that he was most certainly blind now, and so couldn't see her offer.

"Sasuke, hold out your hand."  
Instead the boy just got to his feet, probably rolling his eyes under those sealed eyelids. Maybe. Naruto wasn't too sure what'd happened to those eyes; were they still there but blind now? Were his eyelids just sealed shut?

.

Scowling and kicking at the ground beneath her foot, Naruto turned back to her blind companion before reaching into her hip-pouch, rummaging around for the small amount of bandages she did keep on her. Eventually, the white material relented it's hiding place and she pulled it out, sliding a step closer to Sasuke. He'd turned his head, in her general direction, so at least he wasn't helpless. Well, completely helpless.

"What do we do now?" Naruto questioningly grumbled, forming a wobbly looking shadow-clone to help hold back Sasuke's bangs whilst she bandaged his eyes.

"I'm not quite sure, maybe go and find a new set of eyes, that'd be a good place to start," Sasuke's voice was laced heavily with thick sarcasm, and Naruto wasn't too surprised. For a moment, she let her eyes slide shut, trying to work without her vision before opening them again. Yeah, she didn't much like the idea of going blind.

"How far back are we?" Scratching at the back of her neck, Naruto wearily eyed Sasuke who just stood and let her shadow-clone finish up on his bandages.

"More than a year, less than a decade. There's not really a lot of Uchiha who dared risk both eyes to travel back in time, and they could only go back a day using almost all their chakra."  
Ah, so with tailed-beast and Uzumaki chakra in the mix, it wasn't difficult to see why they might have a problem then. Almost on cue, Sasuke's stomach let out another low growl, which Naruto's happily answered to. Even with the bandages on his face, Naruto couldn't miss the raised eyebrow Sasuke offered her, so the blonde sighed lightly, pulling out a kunai and expanding her sensing once again.

"Food first, then we'll go look for a town."

* * *

In all honesty, she was more than happy to get away from Sasuke. It was awkward, so mind-numbingly awkward. First he'd shown up on the battle-field, and she hadn't had a problem then, especially when he started fighting along-side her wearing a Shinobi head-band. She didn't want to think about where he'd gotten it from, but she'd accepted it, and the one he passed along to her upon noticing that Madara had taken her's -much beloved- one, and burnt it to a crispy pile of molten metal. It wasn't a huge shock, but still quite upsetting, seeing as it'd been Jiraiya that'd given her that band.  
She paused in her musing, sucking in a long breath before exhaling. More than a year, that's what Sasuke had said. Which meant Jiraiya... Jiraiya would be alive. She could save him, her mentor was still around. And that meant Nagato too. Maybe she could talk him through, this time without Konoha hanging in the balance.

Shaking her head, Naruto turned her attention back to hunting, pushing back all the ideas that were suddenly running wild. She needed to stay focused, and she most certainly didn't need to start thinking these things through till she was in a position to do anything about it. First thing first was to sort everything out with Sasuke, be it his eyes or his hungry stomach.  
Naruto had learnt her lesson from Itachi -oh god, maybe they could save him too- and she was not stupid enough to think she could do this alone. Sasuke was the only other person that knew what was going on right now, and she wasn't going to let him run off on his own, especially now he couldn't see anything.

.

A rustling to the left and Naruto's kunai flew straight and true, the soft thump of a body hitting the floor letting her know she was very much on target. Scrambling over, the blonde peered around the bushes and breathed a sigh of relief. At least it'd been a one-hit kill. Scooping the small bunny up in her arms, Naruto inspected it's body, hoping for some indication. It's fur was thinning, not quite out of the winter coat, but not quite into the summer coat either. So they were in spring then, compared to the autumn in which the war had been fought.  
Scratching at her cheek, Naruto twisted around, scanning the tree's for any sign of the season. However during her travels with Jiraiya, she'd never stayed in Lightning country long enough to understand the trees, never mind how to tell how they changed over the seasons.

Growling under her breath, but never the less accepting that she could only guess it was spring, Naruto tightened her grip on the rabbit's haunches before making her way back to Sasuke, determined to keep focus enough to save as many people as possible. There was no time for the awkwardness between them.

* * *

When she returned, Naruto couldn't help but stare. Somehow, Sasuke had managed to start a fire,and not a wild-life threatening one. In their clearing, a perfect little fire-pit was sat, lined neatly with stones he must have gathered from the nearby trail, and the flames crackling over the dry bark he must have pulled from the trees.

He must have felt her eyes on him, because without even sitting up to face her he managed, "just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't be of use dobe." The raven haired teen was laid out on his back, hands placed casually behind his head for some support, and looking all for one at home with his predicament.

"How are you accepting this?!"

"I had a lot of time to think it through from meeting up with Itachi to saving your ass dobe. I already knew what I was giving up, and what I could get. Seemed worth the risk." He tapped lightly at the side of his cranium with two fingers, smug little smirk on his face. His nose twitched, no doubt sensing the blood that the rabbit was oozing and Naruto scowled.  
In response, Sasuke just held up a sharpened branch, no doubt to be used to cook her catch.

.

Once the rabbit was on the fire, Naruto dropped into a sitting position beside the raven, trying to figure out how to phrase her question. "Itachi has a spare eye," she finally muttered, watching as Sasuke's head turned slowly towards her direction.

"What?"

"He's got- I think he said it was Shisui? But yeah, his friend asked him to look after his eye because it was too strong to fall in the wrong hands. He destroyed it in the war. Danzo's got the other one."  
Ever so slow, Sasuke sat up, brushing his bangs back regardless of the fact they could no longer get in front of his eyes.

"Then we find my brother first. I'll need to be able to see, even if it's just one eye, to take Danzo down ."  
Naruto nodded slowly, biting her lip to stop herself from saying. Sasuke didn't need to know that she wouldn't let him kill the old war hawk, even if it was probably for the best. Imprisonment sounded better, because then they could sort Sai out without having to kill anyone off.

"Okay, so Itachi. Any idea where he might be?"  
Sasuke deflated, pulling his legs up to his chest, chin resting atop his knees and arms curled around his shins.

"I don't know. I need to know the date before anything."  
Yeah, the date would probably help. No, the date would without a doubt help.

"It's spring at the moment," Naruto muttered, running a hand through her wild blonde hair before turning back to the rabbit on the fire.

"That means we're at least a year and a half back."  
Before she'd even returned to Konoha then. Her younger self was probably off with Jiraiya, still worried about the Akatsuki's chances of getting her. Now that she knew what'd happen though, she was much more determined to make sure things went right.

"I don't have a clue where he could be right now."  
It must have pained Sasuke to admit to that; even with all the training of Orochimaru, it'd taken him so long to track his elder brother down. And even then it'd all turned out wrong.

"Let's start with the Akatsuki base in the Land of Fire."  
Naruto's head snapped up, because she sure as hell didn't know that they'd been a base in their home-land.

"If we've only got a few months till the go after Gaara, there should be one of them there, collecting evidence or information. We should be able to get Itachi's location out of them."  
Naruto nodded, because they only Akatsuki they'd struggle with would be Tobi or Nagato. And he latter almost never left Rain country.

"So we head for a town then," Naruto pulled the rabbit from the fire, heating a kunai before slicing it up and handing Sasuke his fair share.

.

They ate in silence after that, each contemplating the amount of people that they could save, the things that maybe this time, they could do differently.

"We'll leave in morning," Sasuke finally mused, throwing the remains of his rabbit into the fire before dropping back, lying down once again with his hands behind his head.

"How did you know it was evening?" Naruto scratched at her head, looking at Sasuke who just shrugged.

"I can feel the sun's heat, it's been dropping and coming from the left, I assume that way is west?"  
Naruto nodded, before verbally confirming her answer when she realized that he couldn't see the gesture.

"Just get some sleep dobe."

"Aye aye teme."

* * *

_I will save you from yourself,  
Time will change everything about this hell,  
Are you lost, can't find yourself?_

_-30 Seconds to Mars, Birth_

* * *

**These chapters and gonna really vary in lenght, because I have a plan for this and it depends on how many words I can get each chapter wrote out in. I know what's gonna happen in each chapter for the next 25 now, but no idea ow many words it'll take. So, yeah.  
Oh, and the two of them will be getting new names soon. So they don't get confused with their younger selves. **

**Questions;**

**Are they in their younger or older bodies?  
_Older, they have physically moved back in time. _  
**

**Is Sasuke permanently blind?  
_No. As we've seen with Tobi, who used one of the Sharingan sacrificing jutsu, another eye can be placed within the eye-socket, but the previous one is useless. _  
**

**Will there be younger versions of them around?_  
Sure will be, with time-travel I follow the line theory explained on 'Back to the Future' films, it which the previous time-line deviates by their very presence here, moving them towards a different future. There younger selves will be around, but their future doesn't exist now. _**

**_._**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Tsume Yuki**

**xxx**


	3. Impunity

**Run Devil Run**

**Chapter 2  
Impunity  
**

* * *

When Naruto awoke, it was to the sight of dew splattered grass, an earthy green before her gaze. A peaceful sight, one that left her gasping for breath. It hadn't been some obnoxiously big, Kurama induced dream. She was very much in the past, with a very much blind Sasuke.  
Groaning, Naruto rolled over on her stomach, letting out a hiss of annoyance as the dew pressed up against her thin clothes, creating an uncomfortable sticky feeling between the material and her too hot skin. Placing one hand to the back of her neck, the blonde winced at the pain that came with the gesture, clearly it was well past dawn, because she'd managed to get some rather nasty sun-burn. Sleeping under a tree would perhaps have been a better idea, but that was an issue now in the past, there was little she could do to change it. Only hope that the first town they got to sold some form of after-sun.  
Scratching wearily at her forearm -also burnt- Naruto let her sleepy blue eyes sweep across the clearing, looking for her fellow time-traveller and partner in all things impossible.  
And then she scowled.

Head tucked against his collar bones, Sasuke was sat up, leaning against a thick looking tree-trunk and was quite clearly, very much asleep. Raven bangs fell over his forehead in downwards facing, spiky tufts, flanked by the much longer bangs that framed his face. Said face was a mask of peace, even hidden away behind her poor bandage job. His eyebrows were relaxed, jaw anything other than clenched.  
Even with his arms folded across his chest, he just looked to be ever so slightly impatient, certainly not the Sasuke she remember. He'd arrived at the battle-field almost a different person, with a different perception on life.

Naruto bit her tongue, slowly making her way over and taking in everything around her that Sasuke now couldn't; the spring green of the grass, the worn brown of the tree-bark, even the soft pastel blue of the sky. All of this she'd taken for granted day in day out, Sasuke was now unable to enjoy. However, as long as they found Itachi, then it wouldn't remain that way. Or so she hoped.

"It's about time you woke up." Sasuke's voice echoed through her brain before Naruto finally registered that it did indeed belong to him, and that he most certainly was awake. Wearily, she eyed his torso, the shallow rise and fall that indicated his breath, but it didn't look any different than a usual sleeping pattern. Fear passed through her for a moment, about how he could be so relaxed in this state, but Naruto pushed it back, determined to plod on.

"How do you know I woke up after you teme," she tried to make the words light-hearted, but they fell from her tongue like lead, landing awkwardly and with no flow what so ever.

"Your chakra brightened when you woke up, dumb-ass," Sasuke's voice was gritty and Naruto just about managed not to wince. Great going there Naruto, way to call him out on his lack of vision. Was there anything else -other than discussing Itachi or Uchihas- that would make him clam up as much? The answer to that, would be a definite no.

"Well, at least you're adapting," open foot, insert mouth, "I'm gonna go catch some breakfast."  
From the smug smirk upon Sasuke's lips, he was well aware of her discomfort, the fact she was stumbling over words she'd have otherwise thrown at him before. But this Sasuke was different, and thus, she was hesitating in the manner she approached him in. Sending the raven haired boy one last glance, Naruto took off into the undergrowth, chewing on her lip as she went.

* * *

Leaning his aching back against the tree, Sasuke let out a low pitched sigh as the blonde left, doing his utmost best to not breath out too hard. Madara had certainly pushed him to his limit. There were several problems with the jutsu he had used, the major one being the lack of success records, only two throughout the entire Uchiha history. The second problem was the chakra drainage; it's taken a full charge of tailed-beast power to get them whenever they were now. And the final problem was the lag time between activation and effect. He'd turned the jutsu on as soon as he had arrived at the battle with the four Hokages, but that had meant they were stalling for time. Or rather, he and Naruto had been stalling for time. All it'd taken was a quick chakra tag, placed upon the girl's forearm, and then there had been nothing to do but fight. Said fight was without a doubt the cause of his current respiratory problems.

With a low groan, Sasuke placed one hand against the tree trunk behind him, intent on standing and making another fire pit. Yet, now that his body was no longer running the adrenaline of the fight, it was almost as if he was running on fumes. Well, it certainly felt like it anyway.  
Skimming his fingertips against the tree-trunk beneath his hand, Sasuke's brow scrunched as he attempted to focus through the pain. The bark was dry, despite the moisture in the air, with a light covering of lichen that came away with his fingers, leaving them dry and rough as they rubbed against one another. No longer bothered about his appearance, the second Sasuke was standing, he ran the appendage across his pants, well aware a dull green stain would probably be left it it's place.  
A smooth motion later and he once again was armed, kunai in hand before it was embedded in the bark. His haggard muscles whined in protest at the harsh movements, but Sasuke ignored them, repeatedly stripping the tree of a good helping of it's bark before throwing it towards the center of the clearing. Even without his sight, it wasn't useless, and through sound alone was able to throw his collection in pretty much the same place, forming a pile.

.

Once he'd managed to make his way over, despite the burning in his lungs and the shooting pains in his ribs, Sasuke dropped down beside them, blindly feeling about the grass for the collection of rocks he'd gathered last night from a nearby stream. His already hypersensitive ears could pick out the low, drizzling sound of running water from amongst the wild-life chatter. Though his attention was quickly drawn south-wards upon the triumphant bellow from what could only be Naruto. It would appear that they'd be eating some form of meat for breakfast after all.  
Turning back to his own focus point, Sasuke placed a single finger against the bark, one shot of fire chakra exiting the tip and the wood was instantly set ablaze. The flame's warmth was comforting against his aching joints and Sasuke allowed the pleased hiss to escape his form, cheeks heating in the fires presence.

"Yo teme, I got us a wild boar! I'll stick what we don't eat in storage."  
He wasn't quite sure how Naruto had accepted him so readily back, but he wasn't about to complain about it. That would be like looking a gift horse in the mouth right now. Currently, he was as blind as Kakashi was to adequate social behaviour, and more than likely, deep in enemy territory. He couldn't afford to be left alone here, and if it meant not questioning Naruto for the moment, than he'd leave her be. The scent of blood flooded his nostrils and Sasuke rolled his eyes, because though a kunai to the eye-ball may not mar the meat, it as certainly not the prettiest of ways to kill their meal.

.

As Naruto went about cooking the pig, Sasuke slowly lowered himself down onto the ground again, only just managing to stop the pained grunt from escaping him. It felt like someone had stabbed him with a kunai and then left it inside him for the flesh to heal over. Unlike Naruto, he didn't have a magic, healing demon to sort out all his injuries, so he was still stuck with whatever Madara had managed to dish out on his so far.  
Instead, he tried to distract himself, thoughts wandering over their current plan of action, which didn't extend too far from find Itachi. Which of course, would result in one working eye for himself, but right now, he couldn't quite figure out the steps as to how to get to this goal. And what would they do afterwards? Head to Konoha right away and make his bid for Hokage? Or start working their way through the time-line and fixing all the faults before addressing their own problems?

Mind spinning, Sasuke quickly shoved that thought away, instead choosing to focus upon the current game-plan.  
First, they had to find Itachi. Once they had done that, then they would need to locate a medic-nin -which would probably end up being Tsunade herself- in order to get the eye implanted. So, in order to find Itachi, he'd first have to find Itachi's location. And the best way to go about this was to find either a member of the Akatsuki, or an Akatsuki base where records were kept.  
He knew of a few of the latter, posted around the five elemental nations. But that didn't help when they weren't quite sure where they were right now. Then he'd return to what he'd dedicated eight years of his life to, chasing after Itachi. It was almost comfortable in a way, being able to slip back in the pattern of looking for his elder brother, even if intention were completely different this time around.  
As for the rest of the Akatsuki, he'd never met that many of them in person, only the blond bomber he'd killed, and then those left after Itachi's death. He'd never bothered to learn their names or the moves because it was of no consequence for him in the future. However, Naruto would probably know, so he wasn't too worried in regards to that.

"Pig's done."  
Something radiating heat was thrust in his general direction and Sasuke reached out sightlessly towards it. A warm hand, much warmer than his own cool skin, helped him grasp at the bone that he assumed to be a cooked leg, and he didn't hear a comment form Naruto. She still didn't know where she stood with him quite clearly, and he planned to make her squirm just a bit more, for no other reason than the fact it was incredibly funny. He could suddenly see why Kakashi took great pleasure in being late, it was a perfect way to irritate someone, and Sasuke wasn't about to let the opportunity go to waste.  
It'd been a very, very long time since he'd last been able to breathe without the crippling pressure of what he had to do, or what he should do next. For once, it was nice to simply be, to exist as nothing other than Sasuke. No family to avenge, no village to look after, no enemies to slay. Just an old friend to poke and prod at. The sudden appeal of this lazy lifestyle was startling, though he could now understand why this had Shikamaru's preference.

"So, where now Sasuke?" Ah, she was calling him by his name again.  
Taking a moment to chew thoroughly and savour the taste of the meat, Sasuke turned his head towards the stream, pointing with his free hand and ignoring the whine of pain from his ribs at the movement.

"There's a steam about two minutes walk away, if that. We should head in whichever direction it's running, there will probably be a settlement somewhere along the line."  
Naruto must have nodded, because he heard no verbal response, so he returned to ripping meat from bone.

.

There was silence as they finished the rest of their meal, and whilst he had no idea how Naruto was dealing with it, he himself found it somewhat pleasant. It'd been a long whilst since he'd been able to just sit and think things through, and whilst the plan coming together in his head was a little shaky, it was indeed a plan, and it was as good as they could get for now, so he wasn't about to start complaining.

"We need to set off soon," Naruto mused, breaking the silence. In response, Sasuke angled his head upwards, trying to feel for the sun on his face. It took a moment, but there it was, ever so slightly left of being just above his head. So, it was past mid-day was it?

"And how do you plan to guide me dobe? I may be blind, but I still have my pride."  
She spluttered, as if choking on whatever metal she'd been finishing off and Sasuke found himself smiling ever so slightly. Because it was just such a Naruto thing to do; he may have been away for three years, but there had been no changes at all as far as he could hear.

"Remember that red-head from your crappy snake team?"  
Brows furrowed, Sasuke rather quickly put the pieces together; snake team, Hebi, red-head, Karin. Ah.

"She could sense chakra, was that from training, or from blood-line?"

"I think that it was blood-line, but I do remember her saying that it was possible to learn, it just wouldn't be as accurate, nor have the range she did." He hadn't really thought about Karin that much when they got to the battle-field, and he wasn't back in the past to look for forgiveness. He'd already come to terms with everything he'd done, everything he'd planned to do. He was past that point of acceptance, now he was just looking forwards to straightening out the mistakes of the world.

"Well you're gonna have to learn really fast."  
Focusing, Sasuke could feel the bundle of bright chakra that was Naruto, standing about three feet in-front of him. Her chakra was so bright against his currently useless mental sight, her chakra pathways so defined that he could make out an outline, but only when he was paying good attention. Pulling his sword in one quick motion, he pressed it up against her neck, still only sat upon the grass.

Her gulp was audible and Sasuke smirked again, "Blind, but not useless."  
Her chakra filled head moved up and down in a nodding motion and Sasuke's smirk softened into a smile, pulling the sword back. This time he wasn't able to help the breath of pain that left him when he ribs said no to the motion, but Naruto didn't comment, either not hearing it or believing it to be a sigh of satisfaction. Now came the hard part, standing and walking without the girl realizing that he was injured.  
That might pose a problem.

.

He managed to make it to the river before tripping up over an rather annoyingly placed rock. He hit the ground hard, landing on his injured everything and a light cry of pain left him. Maddening, because he shouldn't feel so comfortable in Naruto's presence, not enough to actually voice his pain.  
He didn't have a chance to recover, because she was all up in his case before the threads of pain had even started to fade.

"Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?!"  
And then there was a hand on the hem of his shirt, pulling it up and over his head and Sasuke didn't even have time to choke out a sentence before Naruto was running her fingers up and down his ribs. They had to be bruised, and pretty badly at that too, because that stung, and she was only pressing ever so lightly. Every nerve felt like it was on fire and her touch, and not in the passionate, romantic way either.

"Damn it Sasuke, I'm trying to help you here! I thought we were friends again, you're suppose to tell me if you're hurt!"  
Two hands clasped in his own and Sasuke found himself being pulled once again to his feet, though slow enough that it wasn't too much strain on his poor sides. However, the lift up didn't stop there, because another pair of hands suddenly grabbed at him and the next thing he knew he was half sat, half draped across Naruto's back. The pain had distracted him from sensing for chakra, and the dobe had managed to make a shadow clone to man-handle him with.

"Put me down Naruto," hissing through his teeth, Sasuke tried not to think about how much easier this was on his ribs. This was a matter of pride right here, and he wasn't about to let himself be carted around like a child.

"Shut up Sasuke. I'll make a stretcher to carry you into town sooner than I'll let you walk. Deal with it." Her arms tightened ever so slightly around his thighs and Sasuke knew it was a lost cause right there because the dobe was just as stubborn as what he was. There was no way around it.

Listening to the lapping of the stream-water as both he and Naruto make their way through the tree's, Sasuke pushed down the need for a drink. It wouldn't be too long until they hit town, were there would be clean water, not the questionable quality of the stream. Without his eyesight to assess the water condition, he didn't feel too much like drinking anything from the wild. Hell, if he was on his own, anything but meat was off the limit, because what he might think to be a safe berry, could turn out to be night-shade without his vision.  
Orochimaru may have helped make him almost perfectly resistant to all known poisons, but not food. He was expected to know what was safe to eat and what was not. Everyone was. If you ate something deadly, it was your own fault.

And it wasn't terrible being so close to Naruto. Though it was a huge blow to his pride, it wasn't something they could afford until they got to the village; if he'd been allowed to walk, who knows how long it'd have taken them to reach civilisation? It'd been a long while since he'd just allowed himself to be held, even if it was in a piggy-back. Naruto was one of the very few people he could trust, because her morals were unchanging.  
Resting his head upon her shoulder, Sasuke let his eyes flutter shut behind the bandages, simply resting his aching head.

* * *

Naruto knew that Sasuke was a prideful creature, but those bruise were horrid. Black and blue splatters had ran all up the side of his ribs, along with chest in a light dusting masterfully applied by Madara Uchiha's undead form. It must have left him in a hell of a lot of pain, because she couldn't see any other reason as to way Sasuke Uchiha would let her carry him like a child. She had once sworn of piggy-backing after Gai and Kakashi's mentally scaring display, but the only alternative was a fireman's lift of bridal style. And that would certainly be pushing Sasuke's new trust in her too far.

.

She'd been running for ten solid minutes before the familiar scent of humans hit her face. Sasuke must have felt it too, because he began shuffling about, lifting his head from her shoulder and looking almost quizzically ahead of them.

"If it's a town, put me down right now. I'll walk in under my own power, or not at all." His voice was low in her ear, but the promise of a fight was there if she even tried to think about it otherwise, and Naruto wasn't looking for a fight. Not right now anyway.  
So she dropped to the forest floor not even a twenty second walk from town, but still covered enough so no one would realize she'd been carrying Sasuke. The raven stood on shaking legs, keeping one hand on her shoulder, either to keep his balance or his guide, she wasn't too sure, but knew that she'd get nothing but the silent treatment if she moved. It was almost surreal, being stood next to Sasuke again, helping him out as they took on the world together. It was how it should have been, and though Sakura hadn't travelled back with them, it still felt like Team Seven were back together again. A crashing disappointment as the thought of Sakura, then a much more curious thought.

"Erm, Sasuke? Are our younger selves about?" God, they hadn't killed their younger selves by coming back had they? She wasn't sure she could deal with that, even if it was herself she'd killed off. That was an incredibly odd thought.

"Yes, they'll be wherever you were at this current time. Which brings us to another problem, we'll have to take on a new name. Both of us."  
But, but she liked her old name. How was she suppose to pick another one? True they didn't need to bother until they ran into someone their younger selves would know, but it was an exceedingly depressive idea.

"Can you see an inn?"  
Naruto had to forcibly bite her tongue to stop herself from saying a very untimely 'can't you'? Thankfully, she managed to stop it in time, because otherwise Sasuke would have probably punched her in the stomach and wondered off, leaving her curled up on the ground. In her head, Kurama chuckled in amusement, his warming presence right at the back of her mind, a reassurance that it wasn't just her and Sasuke here.

"Got any cash on you?"  
Sasuke just snorted, pulling what appeared to be a cheque book from his weapons pouch and pushing it over to her.

"Erm,Sasuke? This account doesn't exist any-more, remember? Time-travel."  
It was almost comical how Sasuke's face fell at that, so she bit her lip and began walking into town.

* * *

It became rather apparent that this town currently had a bandit problem, because the second someone spotted their shinobi fore-head protectors, several armed, grubby looking men came out, each with sneers upon the mugs.

"I'll just sit down for a bit," Sasuke mused, dropping down onto the ground once he'd found a comfortable tree to lean against. Naruto only just managed to stop herself from laughing, because it felt like just yesterday that they were fighting the undead, and no bandits dared to grace her presence to challenge her. It wasn't that she was getting big headed, but going from fighting one of the greatest ninja's in history, to this collection of untrained men? It was almost like a cosmic insult. And she most certainly didn't want to kill anyone, so perhaps a little scare tactic?  
Kurama seemed to be amused by her line of thought, because next thing she knew, his chakra was flooding through her bones, a warm, comfortable feeling that lit her up like a beacon.

"Okay, who's first?" Turning back to the men, she smiled slightly, lazily pulling a kunai from her pouch before adopting a basic stance.

There must have been least one runaway genin amongst them, because she heard a light choking sound from the crowd, before a cry of, "forget that, I ain't going against that much chakra."

It was like a ripple effect, the bandits took off towards the trees, and she caught Sasuke merrily tripping a few of them as they ran by him, too scared to get away from her than pay any attention to his waiting form.  
As the glow died from her and Kurama pulled his power back, she watched as Sasuke, in a cheerfully smug manner, held up a pouch of golden coins he must have snatched off a nearby bandit. Once again, blind, but not entirely useless.

"So, I think we've got enough for a room tonight," he mused casually, slowly standing up before carefully making his way over. He was getting good at this chakra sensing business real quick, but it didn't surprise Naruto as much as it should have done. This was Sasuke after all, rookie of the year. Though the title didn't seem enough to describe him now.  
When his hand came down on her shoulder, gesturing for her to lead on, she happily did so.

.

Upon making their way into town, they received congratulations, thanks and a free offer for a meal and room for the night. She had wanted to pay, but Sasuke had slapped a hand over her mouth before she could say anything, whispering in her ear that they needed to keep whatever money they could for now.  
Annoyed, because the Uchiha was right once again, Naruto dropped down into one of the tables seats within the inns restaurant, rotating her worn shoulders and letting out a low yawn.

"What can I get you then?" The waitress had honey blonde hair, duller than Naruto's but still a pleasant colour to look at, with light green eyes. She smiled at Sasuke, but Naruto couldn't tell if it was sympathetic or if she found him as handsome as all the other girls did.

"I'll have some Yakitori with dip please," looking over at Sasuke, Naruto carefully nudged his foot under the table, just to make sure he hadn't fallen asleep as soon as they sat down. From the way his lips twitched upwards in the smallest of ways she could tell he was amused. The Uchiha turned his head towards their waitress, resting one elbow upon the table and dumping his chin into his open palm.

"Do you have any Sashimi?"  
The waitress nodded, than noticed the fact Sasuke was very much blind and returned her answer verbally.

"I'll have that then."

As their waitress scurried off, Naruto plucked up the map someone had brought her when asked, spreading it out across the table.

"Okay, we're in Shiroku, small village in the south-western part of the Land of Lightning. About an hour run from the border with Land of Frost. So, through there, then through the Land of Hot Water and we'll hit Fire country. We could cover that in a day and a half at top speed, right?" Looking up at Sasuke, Naruto could only see his amused smirk at her words. She missed his eyes, because Sasuke had always been able to communicate with her through them. It was annoying.

"Where did you say that base was?"

"I didn't say," the amused smirk grew as she scowled, Sasuke relaxing into his seat as he spoke, "it's about a three day walk, south-east of Tanzaku Quarters." That was uncomfortably close to Konoha.  
Adjusting herself about in the seat, Naruto picked at her food when it arrived, mind spinning. How had they never known about the Akatsuki being so close by? They were S-rank criminals, surely they'd have been able to sense all the chakra hidden away there? Well, she'd like to have thought so.

"I'll look for a healer while you get some rest in the room," grumbling around her piece of chicken, Naruto kept her eyes on Sasuke still trying to read him, "I'll see if I can get anything for your ribs. Don't want you dragging us down."

And for what was probably the first time in a very long time, Sasuke let out a low laugh, not quite a chuckle of humour, but not quite into sarcasm either. It was the sound that let Naruto know she hadn't quite lost him yet.

* * *

_I keep on dancing with the Devil_  
_I keep on dancing with the Devil_  
_I sold my soul, it's a dead-end road_  
_But there ain't no turning back_  
_I keep on dancing with the Devil_

_Hey-heey-hey_

_I can't escape my filthy past_  
_I made mistakes, I made 'em last_  
_I know you love to watch me cry_  
_Whoaaa_

_So while I'm yours until the end_  
_A holy war, I'll never win_  
_So I'll keep dancing 'til I die_  
_Whoaaa_

_-Ke$ha, Dancing With The Devil_

* * *

**So, I did say these chapters would vary in length, didn't I? Like, massively. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter right here, I think that I like it, but I'll have to leave it a few days then read it through again to know for sure. **

**Questions;**

**Sasuke is too unstable to have Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan.  
_I chose Shisui's eyes, because these are the only Sharingan eyes still connected to an optical nerve. The ones in Danzo's arms would probably have a rather large problem being able to see again, which is why I'm not using those. As for the whole power buisness, Shisui's Genjutsu -or whatever it is- only activates every ten years, and I'm not even sure if Sasuke will be able to use it yet. It is a lot of power, and I think I might not let it transfer over for a biological reason or something. I'll see what I can come up with. _**

**_._**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Tsume Yuki**

**xxx**


	4. Interface

**Run Devil Run**

**Chapter 3  
Interface  
**

* * *

Running his fingers across the soft cotton of the bedsheets before him, Sasuke rolled up onto his side, chewing on his lower lip as a numbing pain shot through his ribs. Thanks to some chakra reinforcement, they no longer stung when he pushed them, only if he tried too much at once.  
Five feet away from him, the source of the snores could be found, probably curled up within the fluffy blankets that adorned the other single bed. He wouldn't be too surprised if there was drool dripping out of the corner of her mouth, but without his vision to confirm it, he'd have to actually wipe the girl's face to make sure. And that was going a bit too far if he dared to say so himself.

The bed's were comfortable in comparison to the hard ground he'd spent the previous night on, but still sleep alluded him. It was just out of his reach, and whilst rest came in micro-sleeps, it was not enough to replenish the energy he needed. His eyes didn't droop, his limbs didn't feel heavy, he just felt awake constantly. There was no rest in sight, it didn't matter where he slept.  
The bed's at Orochimaru's hideout, whilst comfortable, were still surrounded by an air of death, snakes and chemicals he didn't care to learn the name of. It left a heavy feeling of despair in the back of his throat, and the thought of just how he was going to brutally murder his brother left him awake at night almost giddily awaiting the next day.  
And after that, it'd been the Akatsuki hideout, where he'd been so focused, too busy drowning in memories of his loving older brother that he'd only just registered the rough fabric of the bed, the lumpy mattress. He'd later overhead Kisame muttering to a whining Suigetsu that because of certain greedy individuals within the organisation, money had been tight. And by the time said greedy nin had been killed off, they hadn't had time to run out and buy new mattresses; it wasn't exactly of top priority when running a criminal organisation.  
The soft air of nature had been a pleasant change last night, but the ground had been too hard on his beaten torso. And now that he finally had a soft bed to lie in, he just couldn't sleep.

.

The dawn sun was starting to poke through the window by the time Sasuke realized what the problem probably was. Warrior's heart.  
A few of the older clan members had suffered from it, the inability to sleep, to function as a normal person within society. They'd seen one too many battled, been in one too many tough situations and it'd been too much for their head to take.  
So they'd found ways of coping; forget sleep because that just brought nightmares, they avoided talking about certain events, or even taking part in life events, and a few of them had completely lost all their emotions. Not that they'd had many to begin with, but it was as if they'd almost become numb to the world around them.  
This was a worrying development.

Rubbing wearily at his frontal lobes, Sasuke forced himself to stand up, bare feet brushing against the wooden floor-boards. Heightening his senses, Sasuke listened to Naruto's slow breathing, her steady heart-beat. The girl was still asleep, and would probably remain so for at least an hour. They were in no rush, at least he didn't believe them to be right now. He just needed to check what the date was, and to do that, he'd have to find some other life-form with eyes.

For a moment, he wondered if his hawk summoning's still worked before pushing that thought away, he could always test that at a later date. Right now, he needed to focus. When Naruto had gotten a shower after their meal, Sasuke had walked the perimeter of their room. As such, he knew there was a small table pushed up against the eastern wall, just below the window that was currently letting in the sunlight. He also knew his clothes were folded up neatly on there, along with a spare pair of underwear.  
It was another kunai in his pride that Naruto had been the one to get them, but he pushed it down. There was no need for prideful feeling right now, he had to push past it till he got his hands on an eye.

Drawing the curtains closed and decided to leave Naruto to her sleep, Sasuke threw the clothes on quickly, not bothering with a shower seeing as he'd ran himself a bath last night. He'd just quickly freshen up with the sink before heading out.

* * *

The small restaurant wasn't as crowded as it had been last night, clearly the service of breakfast was only open to those staying with in the inn. From memory, Sasuke was able to make his way to his previous booth, sliding into it when a quick chakra detection found it to be empty. A waitress was upon him within a second, that though it took a few seconds, he recognised her chakra signature to be the same as the waitress last night. Good, he wouldn't have to explain his vision problems again; as if the bandages around his eyes were not a big enough give away in that respect.

"Ah, good morning Sasuke-san," she probably bowed, but he couldn't see it, so instead focused on his sense of smell, trying to pick up what the others around him were eating.  
Bacon was an obvious one, along with sausages, their meaty fragrance was easy enough to identify. Next was perhaps one of his favourite smells, the smell of tomatoes. The only reason he hadn't recognised it before the meat was because they smelt as if they'd been fried, not something he'd usually have done with his favourite fruit, but he'd still eat them regardless.

As the rest of what was on offer filtered through his mind in those five seconds, Sasuke turned his head towards the waitress, dropping his head into one arm then elbow on the table.

"I'll have bacon, sausage, a lot of tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs. Scrambled."

"Okay!" She sounded startled, perhaps by the fact that he'd known what was on offer without even having to look at the menu, but Sasuke ignored it.  
Instead as he waited he began expanding his senses outwards, scanning the surrounding area for any reasonably strong chakra signatures that was not Naruto. Purely out of habit, but he wasn't about to let anyone get the drop on him, or his companion simply because he got lazy. He was blind, not useless.

.

It was six minutes and thirty nine seconds later that his requested breakfast was presented before him. Sending a bout of chakra through the plate, he quickly got a rough idea of where everything was placed, waving the waitress away after she asked him what he wanted to drink; apple juice. There was movement of Naruto's chakra signature that signalled she'd woken up, and Sasuke wasn't too surprised. His absence would probably have been noticed, even in her unconscious state.  
He could feel the warm chakra seeping out of the girl, searching for his own, and for once, he threw her a bone flaring up his own in response. It wouldn't be too long before she joined him from breakfast, so he was going to enjoy the relative peace whilst he could. He needed to discuss his slightly more complex plan of action, get Naruto's opinion on it and then they could set off.

Whilst the town itself was peaceful, he wasn't a peaceful man in any form of the word, he had things to do and demons to slay. Even if it was nice for a break, this kind of laid-back life-style wasn't for him.  
Even now he was tensed up, fulling expecting attacks from enemies he hadn't made yet.

.

"Hey, you started without me!"  
He'd already overheard Naruto talking to the waitress, placing her order for breakfast, so he was fully aware she was coming. He just wasn't expecting her to be so damn loud about it. Scowling and rolling his eyes at her oh so typical behaviour, Sasuke jabbed her shin with his foot, gesturing for the blonde to take a seat. She did, the ompth of the leather cushion audible to his sensitive ears.

"How'd you sleep?"

"Fine," _three or so years ago_. Naruto hummed, taking the lie because she couldn't see the dark bags below his eyes. At least the bandages were good for something other than hiding his face.

"I got the date by the way. We're twelve right now," he whispered lowly.  
Apparently Naruto had been taking a swig of her orange juice as he whispered this, because the next thing he knew was that water was being sprayed across the table, and on his -thankfully now empty- plate.

"Charming."

"What do you mean we're twelve?!"  
Pushing the splattered plate forwards so it rested upon the center of the table, Sasuke threaded his fingers together, cradling his chin atop them.

"It's a week into the mission with Tazuna. Tomorrow Zabuza will reappear and fight our younger selves."

"So we can't save Haku then."

The waitress returned with a rack of toast and Naruto's breakfast, and Sasuke nibbled on the former, mind spinning. That meant they had two or so months, give or take, for the start of the Chũnin exams. And the two of them really needed to be in the village by then so they could defend it from Orochimaru's attack. If he hand Naruto played their cards right, they could take out the snake earlier than planned.

This was good news, because it'd solve a lot of problems in the future. Especially if he got the chance to burn Orochimaru's remains before Kabuto could get his hands on it.  
Oh, Kabuto.

A vicious smile found it's way to Sasuke's face, just thinking about what he was going to do to the boy. No one made a puppet of Itachi Uchiha, even if said Uchiha had managed to break the hold on his own. He was going to enjoy plucking his brain to pieces, severing it up to the Konoha interrogation team.

Taking a bite of the toast perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, Sasuke could feel Naruto's questioning eyes on him, but he didn't much care. This he was looking forwards too.

* * *

All through breakfast Sasuke's brilliant, evil little smile had freaked her out, so much so that Naruto had rushed her food to get them out of their quicker. She wasn't sure what had brought it on, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know in all honesty. They were currently running as fast as they could down on of the most well known trails in Frost country.  
Mainly chosen so Sasuke wouldn't have so much to trip over. She hadn't mentioned it to him, because he probably already knew why and it'd just be an uncomfortable blow to his pride. So far, the raven in front of her had already stumbled once in all of their running for the past four hours, which was of course good news. At least he was coping with his current handicap.

They were almost at the border with the Land of Hot Water when Sasuke skidded to a halt, his eyebrows knitted together, half hidden beneath his bandages.

"Sasuke?" The implied 'what's up?' went unmentioned.  
The raven haired teen was still and looked to be in deep concentration and Naruto bounded about impatiently, hopping from one foot to another with a light scowl on her face.

"Well?"

"Naruto, give me a piggy-back." Sasuke was beside her in an instant, on hand expectingly on her shoulder and the blonde only had enough time to blink complete and utter confusion.  
What? But, Sasuke was all but against people seeing him in such an obvious state of need. What had changed? What made him want to show his obvious weakness in front of all the people currently on the trail with them?  
It just didn't add up, but Naruto held her arms out backwards, accepting the boy's request.

"What the hell Sasuke, you better explain."

"Just go towards five'o'clock dobe. Trust me." Growling and clutching at Sasuke's legs tighter than what she probably would have, Naruto leapt up high into the tree's, landing low on one of the branches before bouncing from one to another, aided with chakra as she went along.

.

They'd been dashing along for a while before they hit a town. Whoever the hell Sasuke had sensed seemed to have realized he was being chased, because they'd had a few sharp turns so far, and it was starting to become annoying.

"We're about to hit a village I think, there's a lot of chakra there."

It wasn't long till they did. A rich part of the country clearly, and the civilians let out low gasps as they saw figures go darting around, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Naruto's eyes finally landed on the person they were chasing after, or rather, what the person was wearing. No wonder Sasuke had demanded she give chase, a black cloak and red-clouds? Her luck was finally showing.  
Above their heads, the sun broke through the clouds, lighting up the roof-tops and the glittering water left over from the previous nights rain. The man dropped down into an alleyway and Naruto followed, landing perfectly and pulling her arms together to form a seal. Sasuke grunted in discomfort behind her as she squeezed his legs together, but seemed to agree with her capture plan.  
Not five seconds later, a set of twenty shadow clones appeared and she heard the man scoff.

"Bloody hell, you're your own army."

"Damn right," Naruto let Sasuke slide off her back, placing one hand on his shoulder and tapping it.

"Listen, we've got to meet one of the people from you're organisation. Yeah, we know about that. We have information for Itachi Uchiha. Information he'll want."

"I'm listening."  
Letting out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding, Naruto smiled.

"Thanks Kisame."

* * *

_I stared up at the sun,_  
_Thought of all of the people, places and things I've loved._  
_I stared up just to see_  
_With all of the faces, you were the one next to me._

_You can feel the light start to tremble,_  
_Washing what you know out to sea._  
_You can see your life out of the window tonight._

_If I lose myself tonight,_  
_It'll be by your side._  
_I lose myself tonight..._  
_(oh) yeah, yeah, yeah._

_-One Republic, If I lose Myself (acoustic)_

* * *

**Please don't get used to these quick updates, my revision starts in three hours, so I'll drop off the face of the earth then most likely.  
Anyway, yeah Kisame. Shorter chapter, but it's everything I had planned to go down. So, yeah. **

**Hope you like this chapter. **

**_._**

**Thanks for reading,**

**Tsume Yuki**

**xxx**


End file.
